Which athlete from another sport would you like to see riding professionally?

This idea came while I was watching Raphael Nadal giving another tennis player a serious beatdown. I noticed that Nadal never breathes heavily, and apparently he's known for his incredible cardio. I would certainly like to see him on the climbs of the TDF, after losing a bit of muscle, of course.

So here's the question, for fun!: Which athlete from another sport would you like to see participate in the TDF?

Even though there are parallels, Chrissie Wellington from Triathlon is just a hammer on the bike, would be interesting to see how she would fair.

i think its a pretty safe assumption to say that if she focused solely on cycling, she would be a top women's pro rider without a doubt.

i'd like to see some top female speed skaters on the bike. someone like anni freisinger. speed skaters have got tremendous power, the ability to endure pain and most probably train on the bike in the off season anyways. or pole vaulter yelena isinbayeva b/c she's got an amazing athletic physique.

incidentally, did anyone ever watch that show dhani tackles the globe. dhani jones being the former new york giants linebacker anyways, they had him do a show on cycling once and it was hilarious watching this 250lb all muscle athlete trying to ride up an italian alp in a gran fondo challenge. safe to say most footballers will not fare well on a bike.

Of course, maybe a 75cm frame, or should it be bigger? Im not sure about the wheels, maybe carbon ones?

I hope you're being facetious! His feet would be dangling trying to reach the pedals. It's not the height (sumo wrestlers average near 6ft only) it is the weight. I'm not sure any carbon frames or wheels are made to support that weight.

He's well over the hill now, but in his prime, Ronnie Lott (of SF 49'ers fame) had amazing conditioning and a very high level of both mental and physical toughness. He is also quite intelligent, and could easily grasp the tactics needed to race successfully. On top of that, he was a great all-around person. I think he could've been a pro cyclist, no doubt.

Chris Solinsky. Huge guy and runs a 26:59 10k. The East Africans have great cardio but I'm not sure how great of cyclists they would make. Zersenay Tadese wanted to be a professional cyclist, couldn't quite make it, and ended up the half-marathon world record holder at 4:27 /mile for 13 miles.

No specific athletes in mind, but people from specific regions would interest me.

The whole deal with fast twitch vs. slow twitch muscle fibers in sprinters vs. endurance athletes is a big deal in both cycling and running. It'd be interesting to see what kind of power-to-weight numbers some east African endurance cyclists could produce, or wht kind of power some west African sprinter/track cyclists could produce. Maybe even a road team made of a combination of both. A lot of the west African sprinter types are now from the Carribean and whatnot for obvious reasons, but you get the idea.

I also wonder how many amazing South American or Himalayan climbers there might be if cycling could flourish in those places more easily. The Colombians in the Coors Classic in the '80s, and Jose Rujano are examples from high-altitude South American countries.